Reflections

April 9, 2025

Today's Reading: Mark 15:1-15

Daily Lectionary: Exodus 4:1-18; Mark 15:1-15

“What evil has He done?” (Mark 15:14)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

It was a fair question. In fact, it is THE question that needs to be answered at every single trial that has ever been held or ever will be held. Everyone needs to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, whether the accused is guilty of the crime in question or not.

The trial of Jesus should have been no different. Unfortunately, by the time Pilate was able to ask this question, the trial of Jesus was fully off the rails, a political spectacle at that point. It had lost all sense of what was fair and just. Jesus was arrested in the night and tried at a time when no trials were supposed to happen. Nothing was as it should be.

It had become so unfair and one-sided that when it came time to fulfill the tradition of releasing one criminal and sparing them from the bitter agony of death upon a cross, they did the unthinkable, even in Pilate’s eyes. The choice was between two men: Jesus of Nazareth, the innocent Son of God, or a man named Barabbas, who was convicted of murder.

“The crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?”” (Mark 15:8-14)

The evil actions of Barabbas were well-known and were atrocious. He was a murderer. It doesn’t matter where your moral compass points; murder is murder and is wrong 100 percent of the time. Demanding his release over Jesus is what befuddled Pilate!

And yet, this is the very reason why Jesus came. To endure an unjust trial, to save sinners, even to save the murders, our Lord went innocently to His death for crimes He didn’t commit. His death satisfies the payment required for our sins.

To use a verse quoted earlier this week, “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). By His death and the blood He shed which covers us, it is as if those sins didn’t happen. He remembers them no more.

And what is more, when our time comes, when our time on earth ends, and we are put on trial before the throne of the Father, the question will be asked, “What evil has he done?” By the grace of God, through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the answer will be, “This is my sinless child. You are perfect in the sight of God.” “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).

In the name + of Jesus. Amen.

Glory be to Jesus, Who in bitter pains Poured for me His lifeblood From His sacred veins! (LSB 433:1)

-Rev. Timothy Chase, pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Truman, MN.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Harrison Goodman, Executive Director of Mission and Theology

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